7 Military Robots, Now Modified for Your Living Room

Dozens of robotics companies are customizing military robots with gear like interchangeable tools, 3D radar vision and voice controls. The resulting bots, tested and refined in the field, may soon find their way into homes, gardens and places of work near you. Here's how.

Give the world a new electronic device and, before you know it, modified products will pop up. Such is the way with gadgets, electronics and, yes, robots. Some manufacturers try to lock down such mods, either physically or through legal channels, but the robotmakers at iRobot have embraced crowd sourcing. Their Robot Developers Kit provides the hardware and software to help developers make their own upgrades and add-ons for the military PackBots that they produce. More than 80 companies are now involved, creating an avalanche of new concepts that could find their way into the domestic robot market. Here's a look.

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Dig It

Stratom toolkits for robots include a shovel, scraper and lifting fork. These attach to a toolbar on the front flippers and are used for clearing away dirt and vegetation covering improvised explosive devices. For more detailed work, PackBot's extending arm can take rake, knife and hook attachments. An automated tool-changing system is in the pipeline. Next stop, gardening by remote control?

Sniffer Bot

FIDO is a 3-pound sensor that can detect vapor from explosives at extremely low concentrations. It fits on the end of an agile 7-foot arm with two elbows capable of reaching into car windows and other awkward locations. On the domestic front, this technology might end up sniffing out dry rot in timber, finding gas leaks . . . or maybe hunting truffles?

Your Instructions, Master

Think-A-Move Ltd. has integrated their SPEAR voice recognition software with iRobot's control system. You can direct the machine by speech for completely hands-free operation, or you can use a combination of speech and manual controls. It makes robot handling easier for bomb-disposal techs and will let you order your mechanical servants around without having to find the remote.

No Interference

Communication with robots can be difficult in city streets, as radio signals reflect off walls, causing multipath interference. AMREL's radio card for the PackBot uses a technique called Coded Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing to split the signal across many carrier frequencies. This makes it resistant to interference, so you can stay in control of your robots even when they have disappeared around the corner.

Sniper Finder

Boston University's sniper-locating RedOwl is a turret with acoustic sensors that can pinpoint the source of a shot. The 5-pound unit includes a low-light camera with 300x zoom that automatically swivels to look at the shooter, and a rangefinder with GPS setup that calculates their exact coordinates. A domestic version could locate and identify intruders—including animals snooping in your garden.

Regain Control

Synexxus Inc. has developed the Electronic Keel, a single data-distribution system that replaces the mass of boxes and cables usually needed to handle multiple sensors, data feeds and devices. It interfaces with robots including PackBot and Talon, so a user can look at maps, pull up documents or drive different robots, all on the same screen. Plus, users can feed video from a robot to other remote screens at the same time. One day you might control your robots from your smartphone.

See in 3D

Advanced Scientific Concepts is giving the PackBot 3D vision in the form of a Flash LIDAR sensor. This is similar to radar but uses a low-power, eye-safe laser. It instantly produces a complete three-dimensional map of the robot's surroundings, even in darkness, fog or smoke. LIDAR is a vital tool for PackBots to find their way around on their own and avoid obstacles, whether it's on the battlefield or in your living room.